Man dies after being pinned by granite slab

According to Lt. Rainsford Deware, head of the Lyndeborough Police Department, Benjamin Foisie, 19, was working in the front yard of the house when the accident occurred. ((Courtesy))

LYNDEBOROUGH - A man working on his family's new home was killed when a large piece of granite shifted, pinning him underneath and causing internal injuries that proved fatal Friday morning.

According to Lt. Rainsford Deware, head of the Lyndeborough Police Department, Benjamin Foisie, 19, was working in the front yard of the house when the accident occurred.

Deware said Foisie was attempting to mark a position in the ground for a granite boulder that was part of the landscaping in the front yard of the house being built at 91 Baldwin Hill Road. An excavator was holding the 16-foot-high boulder up, but the ground below, which was very soft from the recent rain and snow, shifted and the boulder fell onto Foisie, pinning him underneath.

"The excavator just couldn't pull it back fast enough," said Deware, "and he couldn't get out of the way."

Deware said that just after 10 am, emergency responders from Lyndeborough Fire and Rescue and the Wilton-Lyndeborough Ambulance Service arrived on scene and transported Foisie to the Milford Medical Center.

Internal injuries from being pinned under the rock proved fatal, Deware said, and Foisie was pronounced dead at 11 a.m. Deware said Foisie's death has been ruled accidental and no charges are pending against anyone involved.

Deware said Foisie and his father were living in the large red barn on the property and working on the new home together while his mother and sister were back home in Connecticut. The family was planning to relocate to New Hampshire when construction on the two-story yellow home was finished.

According to his Facebook page, Foisie was a 2011 graduate of Vinal Technical High School in Middletown, Conn., and was attending Nashua Community College. He would have turned 20 on Wednesday.

Steve Desmarais, owner of Steven Desmarais Construction, said he had come to know Foisie well in the last few years, working beside him on projects for Foisie's father who is a contractor. Desmarais said the accident was a parent's worst nightmare and said he was in shock that Foisie was gone.

"He was just a sweet, sweet kid," said Desmarais. "He was the kindest, most hard-working guy. He would drop everything just to help you, and he'd be there to help even if he wasn't asked. He was an incredible kid. I would have loved to have had him as a son."